Mallam Adamu Adamu, on Thursday, admitted that he has failed in his assignment as Minister of Education.
This is as he regretted his inability to resolve several challenges in the sector despite serving as the longest minister in the sector.
Adamu spoke at the 66th National Council on Education (NCE) in Abuja.
“Most of our policies at the federal level pulled children out of the street back to the school, but evidently, the actions of the states’ governments are pushing the children back to the streets. A few days ago, someone called my attention to the fact that I am the longest-serving Minister of Education in Nigeria. Sincerely speaking, it never occurred to me and I never cared whether I was the longest or shortest-serving minister.
“My worry was that I came to office as Minister of Education seven years ago to tackle the myriad of issues confronting the education system, particularly the issue of out-of-school children. But unfortunately, I failed to achieve all these expectations. For seven years, I was unable to tackle the issue of out-of-school children and several other challenges in the education sector. However, there are so many factors that contributed to that failure, but the key one, probably, has to do with education commissioners in the states.”
Meanwhile, Adamu has ordered that any sexual education content in the curriculum taught in Nigerian schools be expunged. He disagreed with proponents of sexual education, saying it was needless and should not be encouraged.
He said all available evidence indicated that sex education in schools does more harm than good to students and that he has directed the Nigeria Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) to quickly review the curriculum and expunge any sexual education content in the curriculum taught in Nigerian schools.
“While I accompanied the President to his recent trip to the New York, one highly placed government official called my attention to certain materials on sex education being used in schools, and I almost collapsed because I never expected that. I am one of those people who believe that sex education should not be taught in our schools. Rather, such knowledge and experience should be shared through other means that are known to man.
“From all indications, the increasing advocacy for sex education in schools is targeted at undermining and destroying the moral and religious fibre of our society. Regrettably, it’s being promoted through social media and other forms of westernisation…NERDC Executive Secretary, had in response told me that they would debate on the matter and expunge harmful parts, but I told him outrightly that everything there is harmful and should be discarded.”
The minister said Nigeria is a nation with religious and cultural values, suggesting that such should be maintained and promoted among school children.
The Sun
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